


Tools of the Trade - a Trio

by Teigh



Series: Expressions 'Verse [1]
Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Gen, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-01
Updated: 2008-11-01
Packaged: 2017-11-25 05:51:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/635773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teigh/pseuds/Teigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikey and memory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tools of the Trade - a Trio

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Blurring Lines](https://archiveofourown.org/works/350477) by [turps](https://archiveofourown.org/users/turps/pseuds/turps). 



> An additional scattering of Lifedrawing!Mikeyway poems. These all are inspired by Trups' lovely ficlet, Blurring Lines. My poem, Negative Space , is in the same 'verse, though much later on the timeline. These three poems are part of a series - the working title is 'Tools of the Trade'- which, as stated in the summary, are about Mikey and memory.

**Graphite**

_Not the first meeting, but_  
Frank’s first memory of the Ways  
is a trashed kitchen. 

Mikey, all elbows  
and cocked hips, leans back  
his arms slide and stick

on spilled peach Schnapps.  
Gerard, clutching sink edge, laughs;  
earns formica’s frown.

Frank looks down and sees  
shadow on linoleum-  
he rubs his eyes, stares.

Wavering lines, thick  
penciled, quick sketched connects  
brothers, boot to boot.

Frank blinks away sight.  
He names this memory false,  
a trick of the light.

~~~

**Trick Photography**

At first there's anger;  
he doesn't remember Mikey.

Frustration sends Ray digging,  
retrieving his yearbook  
from a milk-crate  
long consigned to the closet.

Quick fan of pages,  
Scan of the index  
reveals no picture,  
no mention of Michael Way.

It’s on the endplate.  
Left-hand corner, top-  
Ray finds  
the first clue.  
 _Page seventy-eight._  
The writing is spidery, familiar.

He flips, glossy paper  
etched with occasional scrawl.  
He flips past  
The periodic _Have a Great Summer!_  
And the inevitable _Don't Ever Change!_

Stops.

Caught in  
the loop and slide  
of script- Gerard's hand moving  
from the illegible  
to doodles along  
the marching band picture.

A felt-tip figure  
fleeing the frame  
of candid  
band room pictures.

Glasses,  
narrow shoulders,  
long legs vee'd  
from the knees.

Memory then slides,  
flickers like a film strip,  
overlapping

Gerard  
and his spindly shadow.

With greater care, the  
search is resumed and Ray  
finds the words  
faint, finally.

 _Michael Way._  
 _No picture available._  
But Ray remembers.

~~~~

**Armature**

Elena looked down  
at the grey thumbprint he left.  
Looked, and shook her head.

"There's no need, Mikey.  
I know you've always been here."  
And she hugged him tight.

~~~


End file.
